Tourists watch as guide wrestles 10ft python in Florida Everglades

A tour guide gave a family of tourists more than just a canoe excursion through the Florida Everglades, when he wrestled a 10ft python to death.

The shocked family watched as Tommy Owens caught the huge Burmese Python and filmed the moment their tour guide leapt into the water to wrestle the creature.

Tommy, who works for private eco-excursions company Everglades Adventure Tours, told NBC2: "I grew up here, so this is pretty standard for the most part.

"I didn't even realise it was 10 feet - definitely thought it was over 6 feet - definitely bigger than me. I didn't realise it was three times the size of my arm."

He added: "They don't belong here and that was literally running through my head."

As Owens grabbed the snake, it began coiling itself around his arms and fellow guide Warren Wortman had to help him wrestle the animal.

He explained that the pythons are "eating our birds, our wading birds, our rabbits, our smaller mammals."

"A snake that size can just cause a lot of damage, so I caused a lot of damage to him essentially, unfortunately for him."

The Huffington Post recently reported that the burgeoning population of huge pythons, pets that have been released into the wild by owners when they become too big, are wiping out large numbers of raccoons, opossums, bobcats and other mammals in the Florida Everglades.

Speaking to WPBF 25, Owens said: "I've caught snakes before, so I know how to catch snakes, but never anything this big."

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